Instant messaging systems allow participants in a group to see whether members of the group are logged on to the messaging system, and allow users, i.e., participants, to chat with each other using a text-based system. Collaborative tools such as NetMeeting, similarly, allow participants to see who is currently active in the system and allow the participants to join a conference and share documents. Email and voice mail systems allow participants to send pointers to documents and attach messages in the form of text and/or voice.
Current voice and data conferencing services, such as NetMeeting, provide participants the ability to have a conference in which applications can be shared together with voice conferencing. That is, one participant's applications can be visible in other participants' computers during a conference. Some simple visual display capability is provided that shows who is currently a participant in the conference. There are also a number of systems that manage virtual meetings so that the current participants are shown on a display screen via an icon, image or live video.
A major disadvantage of current voice conference arrangements is their cost; even if none of the participants is presently speaking they still consume resources and tie up phone circuits. Consequently, conferences are typically scheduled carefully in advance and are of a short-term in duration.